Entertainment

60+ Free Classic Tabletop Games for the iPhone

The iPhone and iPod Touch have a variety of applications for gamers, ranging from music-based games to role playing games. But what if you just want to play some chess or classic tic-tac-toe? The iPhone has that covered, too. There's no need to lug around a chess set as long as there's an iPhone in your pocket.

Whether you love checkers, tic-tac-toe, or even rock-paper-scissors, there are a ton of free applications you can download for hours of classic tabletop entertainment. Browse through this list and you're almost certain to find apps that appeal to your need to play your favorite childhood games.

What is your favorite board or tabletop game on the iPhone? Let us know in the comments.

Chess Applications

Chess Club Free - Play online against players from all over the world via EDGE/3G/Wi-Fi connections, meaning you can play anytime, anywhere. The app includes timers, various rule sets, handicaps and more.

Chess O - Allows you to customize boards & pieces, choose different timing rules, control to undo, flip the board and more.

Chess Quest Lite - This isn't a traditional chess game, but a set of puzzles to challenge you and make you better at the game. The puzzles were prepared by chess champions and grandmasters.

Chess With Friends - Chess With Friends brings the old "chess by mail" concept into the 21st century. You can run multiple games against people anywhere in a relaxed, turn-based system. You can easily see what games are waiting for your move and what games you are waiting for your opponents to move.

Free Samurai Chess - Play chess with others from all over the world in a gaming environment reminiscent of feudal Japan.

Glaurung Chess - A robust single player chess game that allows for 100 levels of difficulty, three different opening move books, various modes of play style, take back moves and a host of other features.

iChess (Free) - Has numerous features such as themes, save & load games, hints by shaking the device, undo moves and many more.

Checkers Applications

AdCheckers LITE - A basic checkers game that allows you to play against an AI or a friend. It also includes realistic sounds of checkers on a board.

Checkers Free - Unlike other free checkers applications, this one isn't a sample of a paid version, but a completely free game. You can play one player against an AI or play against human opponents with fully configurable names, an undo button for mistaken clicks, and more. Future releases will include rules for various checkers games from around the world.

Checkers Free! - This checkers game features both the American and Italian rules and allows you to play against an AI. The paid version adds two player games and more difficulty levels for single players.

Checkers Lite - The free version of this checkers application will let you play on three different difficulty levels against the AI.

Checkers Online Lite - Challenge players all over the world with this free application. Allows for 8x8 boards as well as 10x10 tournament boards. You can also chat with other players and set up a profile for yourself.

Simple Checkers - Just as the name implies, this checkers application is a simple version of the game that is geared towards players just starting off with playing the game.

Teeny Checkers Free - A single player checkers app with an AI developed with the help of checkers and chess master Martin Fierz.

Chinese and Asian Game Applications

Connect 5 Free - Sometimes also known as five-in-a-row, gomoku or gobang, the object is for you to get five of your pieces in a row while keeping your opponent from doing the same. Play either the single player campaign or play against your friends.

GameBox Asia - GameBox Asia allows you to play three classic tile-based Chinese games: Mahjong, Shisen-sho and Nagori. Features multiple tile sets, board layouts, 28 levels of increasing difficulty and several other features.

GNU Go - An open source project for making a better app for playing the ancient Chinese game of Go.

HuaRongDao - A Chinese puzzle game featuring 10 pieces of different sizes on a 5x4 board that you try to solve in as few moves as possible. Features 13 levels of difficulty, a step counter, undo and more features.

iGobang Lite - The lite version of iGobang allows you to play against your iPhone on an 11x11 board on the normal difficulty setting.

iMahjong Free - Use your Jirbo.com avatar as you play this classic Mahjong puzzle game. Match up the pieces and remove them as quickly as you can.

Moonlight Mahjong Lite - A 3D version of the well known mahjong matching tile game. You can move around the three dimensional board to find all the matches using your fingers. The Lite version features three different board layouts.

Shanghai Mahjong Free - Shanghai Mahjong allows you to choose the designs on your tiles from numerous selections online, as well as change up your background images. Only one puzzle configuration is available in the free version, but there are over 160 in the paid version.

Stones - Stones is another version of the ancient game of Go that allows you to play on boards of 9x9, 13x13 and 19x19. All the stones are controlled by moving the actual stones as opposed to using menus and prompts.

Tetsuki - Tetsuki is another version of Go, but this version is for playing online against players from around the world. It allows you to resume games after a disconnect, record live games, observe other players, chat with people and a whole lot more.

Memory and Puzzle Game Applications

aMaze! Lite - An implementation of the old-style wooden labyrinth ball game. It requires you to gently tilt the iPhone around to work the ball through the obstacles to get to the various holes around the board.

BallMazingLE - Another take on the classic wooden puzzle game that keeps you moving a ball around a labyrinth board while avoiding the obstacles.

Descramble Free - The traditional 15-piece slider puzzle played on a 4x4 grid. You try to get the pieces in order by sliding them around the board. This app also offers up a 6x6 version.

Dizzee - Watch the colored pattern and then repeat it when the game tells you to, but remember the patterns get longer and more complicated with each turn. Very similar to the old Simon game from the 1980s.

I Say Free - I Say Free is another version of the colored/musical memory game Simon, where you follow along with the game memorizing the pattern and repeat it back. As the game progresses, the patterns get longer and more complex.

imPuzzleble - Another version of the 15 piece slider puzzle. This one features over 60 different puzzles of varying degrees of difficulty.

MonsterMatch - From Jirbo, this is a version of the old children's memory game where you flip over cards to find the matching pairs. This one has a Halloween theme, complete with monster images and spooky sound effects.

My Memory Free - Another picture memory game, but this one allows you to add your own photos to the game so you can personalize it any way you like with your favorite vacation spots, your kids, friends and so on.

Reversi Applications

Black and White - Better known as Reversi or Othello, players control black and white chips in an attempt to control as much of the board as they can in their color.

Cool Reversi Lite - A nice Reversi app that offers three levels of skill, skins support, two player support, 3D animation and more.

iReversei - An online only version of reversi that will attempt to match you up with players of similar skill from around the world. This app has support for Chinese, Dutch, English, Japanese and Russian.

Morocco - A simple, no-frills version of Othello/Reversi. It allows you to see hints to legal moves, save games when you leave so you can continue later, turn off disc animations and more.

Latrunculi LE - Latrunculi is sort of like Reversi except on a larger board with obstacles and a bit more strategy. The object is the same: get your stones on two sides of an opponent's piece to have it change color. The shape of the board and the obstacles increase the difficulty.

Reversi Lite - Reversi Lite allows you to play against your iPhone on easy, medium or hard settings, lets you undo moves, see suggested moves and more.

Reversi Master - A simple Reversi app that allows you to play on 3 difficulty levels. It also has unlimited undos and 8 different backgrounds.

Reversi Online Tournament LITE - Play against other people from around the world, pick and choose who to play, watch other games in progress and more features.

Tournament Reversi Free - A version of Reversi for those that wish to play online with people from around the world. Play against a second player on the same device or play against an AI - this app covers all of the bases.

Strategy Applications

Backgammon Lite - Choose from three levels of difficulty that control the artificial intelligence of the system. Doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the full version, but gives you all the basic fun of backgammon.

Cribbage Lite - A single player version of cribbage that allows you to play against the computer. It cuts the deck to determine who goes first, keeps track of stats and more.

Dots Free - The old school room game of drawing lines between dots. The person to complete the last line that forms the box wins control of that box. The person with the most boxes at the end of the game wins.

Four in a Row Free - Similar to the classic Connect Four game, Four in a Row Free allows you to play against your Apple gadget on easy, medium or hard levels. You can also play against other people and, if you are just insanely bored, you can set the game to play against itself and sit back and watch.

Lux Touch - A game of world domination through war. You battle against the other colored armies to take over the world one country at a time. Each turn you capture a country, you earn a card you can turn in for extra armies. Yes, it does sound, and look, an awful lot like the classic Risk board game.

PegJump - The classic wooden block/peg game with 15 holes has comes to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Jump the pegs around the board until only one remains. Features custom peg colors, six different boards, the ability to set a picture from your library as the background image and more.

Rows 3D Lite - A 3D version of the rows game where you try to get four in a row onto spindles with your colored beads. You can rotate the board so you can look at it from all angles.

Touch4: FS5 (Free) - A four-in-a-row game that can be played online against players from all over the world. You can see where your opponents are from, keep track of your records, and a whole lot more.

Tic-tac-toe Applications

iTac Lite - Play tic-tac-toe against your friends and keep track of your win/loss ratios. The game has two different themes for you to play.

Tic Tac Toe - Just a basic version of tic-tac-toe with plans to add AI opponents later on.

Tic Tac Toe Free - Tic Tac Toe Free supports both single player and two player games. In single player mode the AI can be set at different difficulty levels.

Tic-Tac-Toe Lite - A single player tic-tac-toe game that allows you to play against the computer on easy, medium or hard settings.

Tic-Tac-Touch: FS5 (Free) - A fairly advanced tic-tac-toe game that lets you play against others online over EDGE, 3G or Wi-Fi. You can even set up multiplayer over devices on the same network. Has features such as undo, hints, score tracking and more.

TicTacJoe - A traditional game of tic-tac-toe where the Os have been replaced by donuts and the Xs by cups of coffee.

Miscellaneous Game Applications

Bingo Card - Bingo Card can generate an unlimited number of bingo cards, and while it is built to work with the Bingo Caller app, it can be used in any bingo calling situation. Just tap on a number to mark a square, and if you mark one by accident, you can just tap it again to unmark it.

CEO Bingo - Bored during a conference call? Pull up CEO Bingo and you can play a bingo card populated with some of favorite CEO buzzwords such as "number one," "foster," "forward thinking" and more.

Croke Lite - The classic tabletop game crokinole comes to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Players compete to move discs into high scoring areas and knock the opposition out of place. This version only allows for play against the AI.

Mancala Lite - Mancala is a game played all over the world and is considered a "count-and-capture" game. This particular app allows you to play with the Kalah and Oware rule sets against the computer.

Rock-paper-scissor FREE - Just in case playing rock-paper-scissors is too difficult with your hands, now you can play it on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

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